The Triumph of Evil Men
by Frankium
Summary: After 8 years a team of men pick up their pattern of rape and kill so the BAU calls on their only survivor to help them catch these men. Reid/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Melissa breathed heavily as she sat on a dirty mattress, the only piece of furniture, as far as she could tell, in the cement room. She shivered the cold penetrating to her bones and she was sure if she wasn't blindfolded that she could see her own goosebumps.

The door to the pseudo-jail cell swung open with a bang, in response to which Melissa jumped. It took all she had not to cry at the thought of what was going to happen next.

"Oh, you've learned not to scream, good girl." Her main captor, whom she dubbed Leader, almost purred. He had a deep voice but still sounded pretty young, probably in his twenties, however he was as creepy as a 50-something could be.

She couldn't see his movements so when he ran his hand over her curly brunette hair she jumped at the contact.

"Sssh, guess what, today you get to go free." He whispered in his ear.

She didn't care how unlikely it was that this was true, her heart sang and she felt relief wash over her. She was so focused on that that she didn't hear the other man snicker in the background.

Before Melissa knew it she was wrenched out of a car and onto the ground covered in what felt like pine needles. Soon, however, she was jerked onto her feet and her bandana was ripped off. Around her was dark forest and no civilization in sight. She turned to see her captors, two brunette young men, looking at her expectantly. Then she noticed the shotguns in their hands.

"I-I thought you said you would let me go." Melissa whimpered.

Leader laughed a laugh she knew all too well, it was how she identified him as Leader. "We are." He stopped laughing, suddenly serious. "Now run."

"Hotch, he's back." Rossi stated solemnly into his cell.

Hotch's voice betrayed his drowsiness. "Who?"

Rossi sighed. "The Super-Killers."

Hotch bolted up in his bed, instantly awake. "How do you know?"

"They just found the body of a curly haired brunette 20-something in Washington."

Hotch took a second, wanting it not to be true, for Rossi to just be paranoid. "You can't be sure."

"She has a heart burned into her back, between her shoulder blades." There was silence on both sides. "You know, she's here, she goes to college in D.C."

"Rossi, are you sure? It's been eight years now, she might not remember enough to be any help."

"You know as well as I do that those four days will always be burned into her mind like the heart on her back. Besides, she spent time with them, she knows their pack dynamics more than anyone." There was a certain note of desperation to Rossi's voice, he wanted any help he could get to catch these men. He paused and sighed. "Hotch, there's another girl with them, she's the best shot we have at saving that girl."

Hotch sighed too. "You can ask, but don't push it."

Rossi had a sad smile in his voice, as if he was happy with his victory but what it meant depressed him. "Wouldn't dream of it."


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone sat around the round table, except Rossi, and looked ahead at JJ as she stood next to the TV screen.

"23-year-old female found in a forest outside Seattle, Washington." JJ almost introduced her. "She was shot three times and prior to that she was raped multiple times on multiple occasions over a short period of time. She was found last night, dead 22 hours." Pictures of the girl and her body popped up on the screen as the team swiped through on their iPads.

"He'll be here soon, " Hotch reassured, "besides, he's well versed with this killer."

Spencer furrowed his brow, scrutinizing the picture in his hand. "Is this a tattoo in her back?"

"It's his signature, a heart burned between her shoulder-blades." Hotch answered solemnly.

Spencer's head shot up. "You think this is the Super-Killers?"

"I'm afraid so." Hotch almost apologized.

Morgan and Emily shared confused expressions.

"Super-Killers?" Emily questioned.

"About eight years ago," Spencer began, "three men began abducting young brunette women in the southern California are. They would keep them for about four days and over that span, at least in the case of Anastasia Williams, each raped the victim at least once a day, if not more. After those four days were up they would get another girl _and then _kill the last, execution style."

"Anastasia Williams, who is she?" Morgan asked.

"This," Rossi said from the doorway, "is Ana Williams."

He walked in and a young girl walked in. Her shoulders were squared, her face set, as if she was preparing for an attack. Even so, she glided in, her strawberry-blonde hair splaying out behind her.

"The one that got away." She stated simply.

Everyone was quiet, as they stared at her.

"Thank you very much for helping us on this case, Ana. The information you provide us with could save a life or more, but you can back out at any time." Hotchner paused. "Before we start, are you sure you want to do this?"

She swallowed hard, then she spoke with decisive certainty. "All that is necessary for the Triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Hotch looked as if he was going to protest but only nodded curtly.

There was another long, pregnant pause then Rossi pulled out a chair and offered her to sit. Ana accepted and he took a seat next to her.

"Their latest victim," JJ continued, "was Elena Smith, disappeared two nights ago from the parking lot of where she worked. The next afternoon their prior kidnapped kidnapped victim was found."

"The woods she was found in, how close was the nearest house?" Spencer asked.

"Pretty far, far enough that no one heard the shots." JJ answered.

"Then who found her?" Morgan questioned.

"Lost hunters, it's near a major deer hunting ground, they tried to look for somewhere with less people and stumbled on her."

Emily squinted at a picture on her tablet. "What are all these cuts on her lower legs?"

"We think she ran through the woods, away from her attackers." JJ responded.

"She escaped?" Spencer seemed skeptical.

"No." Ana answered vehemently.

Everyone looked at her questioningly, most having forgotten she was there.

She took a deep breath. "When they had me I was kept in a cage at all times, blindfolded. At least one checked on me about every hour. When they…" She paused, working up the courage to continue. "Took me out one would take me to a baren room and it would be locked from the outside. When he was done he had to call out to get one of the other guys to open the door."

Immediately Hotch said, "these guys were carefull before, after Ana got away they're not going to let it happen again." At that he stood up. "Wheels up in 30," and walked out of the room.

Everyone nodded and disperced.

On the plane, Rossi sat next to Ana in the four seater and Reid sat across from her.

From next to Spencer, Morgan asked, "if you don't mind me asking, given those conditions, how did you manage to escape?"

"Morg-" Rossi began scolding quietly, but he was interrupted by Ana holding her hand up.

"There were three of them, one, the leader, was nasty and rough, but there was another who was sweet and gentle, you know, as sweet and gentle as a rapist could be, after…he-he would apologize, he was the one who brought me food and water."

She paused. "One day they all left for awhile, longer than normal, and came back with another girl. I knew they were going to kill me, it's what happened with the girl before me. The leader, he-he made me kneel with my back to him. Then a gunshot went off but it didn't hit me and I heard the nice one scream 'go' and I just ran like hell.

"When I got outside I realized we were in a sequoia forest and ran for a bit, then hid in one of the knots. After a few hours of looking the two meaner ones stopped and went inside. By then it was almost morning and I ran until I got to a highway. I was lucky, the sweet one had mercy on me, I ran track." She sounded as if she was about to cry but she didn't.

Morgan turned to Rossi. "Did they ever find his body?"

Rossi shook his head. "We found the other girl the next day and they never took another girl again. Until now."

"Ana," Hotch said from the couch, "you said you woke up in a truck. Can you remember any traits of it, like the apulstry, the dashboard?"

Ana closed her eyes and thought for a minute. "The apolstry, it was tan, dirty, there was a rip in the back of the passenger seat. It was a Ford." She paused and thought some more, then opened her eyes. "I don't know if this helps or not but they were squabbling about which cassette to play."

"Did you see the outside?" Spencer interjected.

She shook her head. "They drugged me before they took me out."

"That's okay, how roomy was it? Like, sedan, sports, truck, SUV?"

She thought for a second. "SUV."

Spencer turned to Morgan. "Do you think you can get Garcia up?"

In a second her face was on the laptop on the table.

"Got something for me my lovelies?"

"Yeah, Garcia, can you pull up all vehicles registered in California before two-thousand-two." Spencer requested.

"Done. What next?"

"Now, can you narrow down the search to Ford SUV models, uh, the Explorer, Explorer Sport, Expedition, Excursion and the Escape."

There was a pause, then she look doubtfully to the camera. "Over a thousand hits."

Emily got up and walked over to the table. "He was spooked enough to stop killing, he was probably spooked enough to sell the car."

"Look for used ones sold after June fifth, two-thousand-two." Hotch ordered.

"Scanning for title transfers between June sixth and, let's say, August sixth." Clicking sounded in the background. Then she looked up with a more promising face. "Twenty hits. Sending now."

Rossi looked to Hotch. "We don't have time to talk to twenty people."

"I know." Hotch agreed. He turned to the screen. "Thank you Garcia."

She saluted him and closed the chat.

They all turned back to Ana.

"Can you tell us more about these men? The other two, how did they act?" Morgan asked gently.

"Well, there was kinda a discernible order. Like, there was the king douche bag, he ordered everyone around. Then there was the bishop douche bag, he only took orders from the king. Then there was the rook, he took orders from both." She equated her captors to chess pieces. "The king was really bossy he-he usually raped me more than once a day. He was really cautious, always made sure my blindfold was on. The bishop, he was more focused on the finite things. I remember when they went to take away the girl before me he had to insist multiple times that they lay down a tarp before putting her in the truck."

"I think it's safe to assume that the 'rook' is no longer part of the picture." Spencer interrupted.

"Why?" Ana seemed a little upset by this.

"When the lowest does something so crucially wrong like let a victim go, they're usually killed, probably very violently. The body is probably just hidden very well." Spencer explained.

Everyone else but Ana shot him a look. It was then that he looked at Ana and saw that she didn't like this news.

"I'm sorry." Was all Spencer said.

"Hey guys!" Garcia said excitedly from the laptop. When she had everyone's attention she went on. "So I cross checked the list I sent you with deaths around that time, no hits, but I did find that one Andrew Lancaster showed up at a southern Cali hospital nearly beaten to death."

Hotch stood up and took out his cell. "I'll call California state police, have them go pick him up."

"No rush," Garcia said sadly, "he's an amnesiac. Barely remembers who his mom is."

Everyone sighed.

"We should still try. She if they can fly him up or something. We need to talk to him" Rossi waged.

"On it."

"What about the parents, maybe they remember someone Andrew was very close to."

"Send us their numbers." demanded Rossi.

"They are on their way, over and out."

"JJ, when we touch tarmac I want you to contact the family, like Rossi said." Hotch told her. Then he turned to Morgan. "Morgan, you and Prentiss go to the dump site. Rossi and I will talk to Mr. and Mrs. Smith." He turned to Ana and his voice got a little gentler. "Ana, I want you to stay with Doctor Reid, try to tell him any location information you remember, this will help him build a geographical profile."

All present nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

Spencer's phone rang as he stared intently at the map on the board in front of him. Without looking he took it out and opened it.

"Reid."

"Hey, are you alone?" Garcia whispered.

Reid looked around. Ana sat despondent at the table behind him, headphones in her ears, a textbook in front of her.

"Yes, why?"

"Okay, so as you probably learned with Miss Seaver, I dig before I let you run off with some girl." Garcia said intently. "It turns out that she was a runaway, she barely graduated, however she was 2 years early. After she bounced she was arrested twice for shoplifting and once for drunk and disorderly. Parents bailed her out only to have her disappear for two years. Then your lovely unsubs picked her up, guess where. A desert commune thingy where she lived with her dog. The reason she didn't wake up when they nabbed her was because she was completely faced."

There was a moment of silence as Spencer turned to see Ana still pouring over her textbook.

"Garcia, I think we're okay. She and Rossi seem to have a connection and I trust Rossi."

Garcia scoffed. "Ha, you're telling me. He calls her once a month, their conversation usually lasts about two hours."

"So he checks up on her."

"Which means she needs checking up on! Ugh, just be vigilant, Garcia out!" With that she hung up.

Spencer put his phone away and once again turned to look at Ana. However, this time she was looking at his marked up maps, one of Cali, the other of Seattle.

She looked to Spencer. "What does it all mean?"

This confused him. "Well, it's a map, they show where things are locat-"

"Oh my god, that's not what I meant. Never mind." She huffed and got up.

"Where are you going?"

"Out, I need a cigarette." She spat.

"You can't leave, it's too much of a risk that one of them sees you."

"Fuck that noise, I'm leaving. I can't believe I let Dave talk me into this." She began to storm out.

"But he didn't." Spencer stated simply.

Ana stopped dead then turned. "Excuse me?"

"He didn't convince you, you accepted right when he asked."

She glared at him as he watched her. Finally she sighed. "I'm still having a cigarette." She turned and once again began to leave.

"I-I think I should come with you."

Without turning around she waved him to come with her.

Outside she lit up as Spencer stood next to her.

"You know, someone dies from a smoking related disease every eight seconds." Spencer blurted.

She turned to him coldly and pointedly took another drag.

"It also takes 5 minutes off your life-span per cigarette."

Her hand fell to her side, cigarette still nestled between her index and middle. "Why do you care?"

This caught Spencer by surprise. "Well, because you seem nice and-"

She laughed sadly. "No I don't, I've been nothing but a bitch to you since we met. If you think I'm nice I'm not doing a good enough job." She turned back to look out at the street.

"A good job?" Spencer asked. She didn't answer. "We're profilers, we're trained to see through walls, like the one you're using right now to keep me out."

Ana turned to him and once again glared as she commented curtly, "I'll start letting my wall down when people stop giving me reasons to keep it up."

"Hemmingway once said the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." Spencer offered.

"I never trusted good-looking boys. McDormand." She countered.

This confused Spencer slightly, but he pressed on. "A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts. MacMillan."

This time Ana turned her hold body to him, accepting his challenge. "Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks. Watts."

Spencer paused for a second and just when Ana thought he had given up he came back with, "we're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy. Anderson."

There was a long silence, then her eyes softened ever so slightly in a way that told Spencer he had won.

"There you guys are." JJ sounded stressed as she stuck her head out the door of the police station. "Ana, Garcia has a video of Andrew for you, we want to see if you can ID the voice."

Ana nodded and walked inside, Spencer behind her.

JJ stopped him. "What happened out there?"

He thought for a moment. "Some twisted battle of wits I think."

"Oh," JJ seemed relieved but confused as well. "Who won?"

"I think we both did."

After Ana made a positive ID JJ called the parents. They gave a description of two young men whose sketches JJ later released to the press. It was decided that there was nothing they could do so they went back to the hotel. Rossi had insisted Emily and Ana share a room for Ana's protection. It was just after everyone had fallen asleep that they were rudely awakened by Ana waking up screaming.

Emily bolted up and drew her gun, got up and scanned the room. When she finished that she opened the door. Everyone was waiting outside in their sleepwear, guns also drawn.

"It's fine guys, I think she just had a bad dream." Emily waved her hand dismissively.

Even so, Rossi and Spencer came in. Ana sat in her bed in a camisole, panic stricken with tears streaking her cheeks. Rossi sat on the bed next to her and rested his hand on her knee.

"You okay?"

She nodded.

"It was about him, wasn't it?"

Again she nodded. "You should sleep, I'll be fine."

Rossi knew she was right and got up to leave.

"Do you mind if I stay for a sec?" Spencer asked Emily more than Ana.

It took Emily a sec but she finally understood and left.

After the door closed Spencer approached Ana's bed as she looked away.

"I-I know what it's like. To be plagued by dreams, to just want to forget."

She looked up at him with sad eyes.

"Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?"

She just looked at him. "My father, when I had a bad dream, he would lie in bed with me and we would read together until I fell asleep."

At that Spencer left without a word. Outside he told Emily that he would take her shift with Ana and got his book from his room.

When he returned Ana looked up and had since placed a pillow between her and the wooden headboard. There was a second propped next to her on the same bed. Spencer awkwardly walked over in his boxers and undershirt and sat down on top of the covers.

"What are you reading?" She asked, sadness still tugging at her voice slightly.

"Uh, it's from the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind." He looked at her book. "What's that?"

She looked down at it as if she had forgotten herself. "Uhm, Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert."

They settled down and got into their books. Eventually Ana's lids got heavy and she absentmindedly leaned against Spencer, her head on his should despite the fact he was about a foot away. He fixed this by scooting closer to her with little finesse. Ana woke only slightly then quickly fell back into deep sleep. Eventually so did Spencer.


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n: to all that have already read the first three chapters: I changed one detail, Andrew Lancaster, our 'rook', is not a vegetable but rather an amnesiac and is being sent up, in custody, from Cali. Sorry for the trouble and thank you those who have been following and those who have given reviews, I appreciate greatly!**

A knock at the door woke both Spencer and Ana in the morning, in response to which Spencer got up and answered the door.

Morgan stood in the doorway, completely clothed and ready for action. "I hope you had fun last night, because Lancaster is here and we need to bring Ana down to talk to him. Hotch and JJ are already at the station."

Spencer nodded and told Ana. A strange awkwardness flowed between them for obvious reasons, however a strange sense of security and understanding accompanied it. He left and got dressed, as did Ana and, now that she could get to her clothes, Emily.

The five of them, Rossi, Emily, Ana, Morgan and Spencer all met in the lobby.

"Prentiss, Morgan, why don't you guys take Ana, me and Reid will be behind you." Rossi more ordered than suggested.

Prentiss and Morgan exchanged confused looks but agreed and showed Ana to one of the black Suburbans.

Rossi and Spencer got into the other one and after a few seconds of driving, Rossi asked, "why did you stay with her last night?"

"Huh?" Was Spencer's only response.

"Last night, when Ana had a bad dream you stayed with her, slept in her room with her. If you were any other guy I would rip your head off. But why would you offer in the first place?"

Spencer thought for a minute. "I guess I just get it, both the dreams and the being held against your will. I can't imagine what I would be like if Tobias got away and after eight years of being dormant he just showed up again, killing. Having to re-live it again just to catch him, I would have bad dreams too. I also get the nightmares and wanting to do anything possible to make them stop."

Rossi seemed to accept this with silence.

Then something occurred to Spencer. "Why do you care? What's up with you guys, anyway?"

"Her father was abusive and an alcoholic and her mother died when she was young. She abandoned all hope which is why she left. You know, even after her trauma she didn't want to see her family. I guess she blamed them in a way. If they hadn't been so horrid she wouldn't have left and been in the desert in the first place. But she needed someone to latch onto and I was there, I guess, because I was on the case."

Spencer nodded as they arrived at the station.

Inside, Hotch and JJ sat at a table with Ana.

"We're hoping your voice will bring back his memory of taking you, maybe tell us who else was there." JJ said gently. "Do you think you can just hold a conversation with him?"

Ana nodded and went in with Hotch.

"Hello Andrew." Hotch greeted through gritted teeth.

"What is going on, who are you people?" He asked angrily.

"Do you not remember being arrested?" Hotch seemed legitimately concerned as having to re-introduce himself every minute could prove hard for time-sake.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "No, I do, that's anterograde amnesia, I have retrograde. I mean why was I arrested, I haven't done anything wrong."

"Do you remember me?" Ana interjected.

Andrew paused only momentarily. "No, why should I?"

"You kidnapped me eight years ago." Ana stated calmly, almost coldly.

"What? I did not." Andrew seemed to become confused as well as angry.

"Yes, you did, I will remember your voice for all eternity." She countered.

He paused again, as if making a very conscious effort to remember.

"I can't remember anything after age ten."

"This would have happened when you were twenty three." Hotch offered.

Andrew shook his head. "Sorry, I can't help you with that. But I guarantee you, I would never do something so gross."

Ana stood up. "Hotch, can I talk to you outside?"

They left and outside exchanged words.

"I think he's telling the truth." Ana said.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Hotch asked.

"I want to try something. There was music playing a lot of the time they had me. Music is shown to have a link to memory and can evoke strong memories sometimes, even in amnesiacs. I have the song that was playing when they were about to kill me on my iPod, the one that would have been playing when King and Bishop beat him."

Hotch sighed. "I suppose it's worth a try."

Ana only nodded in response and walked back into the room. She placed her iPod in the middle of the table and pressed play. All the Small Things by Blink 182 began playing and a look o confusion crossed Andrew's face. Then anger.

"Stop, I hate this song!" He yelled and grabbed the iPod.

Hotch snatched it back and let it keep playing. "Why does it make you angry?"

"I-I don't know, it just does!" Andrew yelled.

The song ended without any other words. Hotch asked some more questions and when he got nowhere he and Ana left.

"He's definitely our guy, but he seems to sincere about not remembering anything." Emily said.

Hotch turned to Rossi and JJ. "So what now?"

"We could smoke him out." JJ answered. Confused looks from all present urged her to continue. "We say we have one in custody, Lancaster, and he has given us the identities of the other two."

"He could kill her though." Morgan countered.

"Unless we gave him a distraction. The King attacked Lancaster prior to going after Ana, his anger overcame his survival strategy. We could also mention the time when we will transfer Lancaster from police custody, put him in a vest." JJ offered.

Rossi sighed. "It might be the best shot we have."

"Alright, JJ, announce to the press everything you just said. Tell them we will be transporting Lancaster at four, we need to do it when there's still light." Hotch ordered. JJ nodded and left to make calls. "Morgan, call Garcia, get the pictures of the twenty hits we got yesterday, we'll show them to Lancaster, see if he recognizes any of them."

Morgan whipped out his phone and walked off.

"Emily, Rossi, take Ana and see if we can get Lancaster to remember something, anything." Hotch said.

Emily and Rossi nodded and rossi looked Ana in the eye.

"Are you ready to go back in there?"

"Yeah, if it can help that girl." She began to determinately walk to the interrogation room but Rossi grabbed her wrist. She whirled around with a look that told him not to get in her way.

"Ana, you know, it's perfectly normal to be angry with him, scared of him, upset at the memories, anything. Honestly, it's more disturbing that you're not reacting." Rossi insisted.

Ana paused. "Remember the one who has ridiculed you, who has grieved you, who has wronged you, who has done evil to you, as your physician, your healer. He has been sent to heal you; don't remember him with anger. Zossima."

Rossi seemed to accept this and let go of her wrist then followed her in.

"Andrew, we understand that you don't remember, but there is hard evidence that links you to this crime and you will be charged for it, however if you help us we can cut you a deal." Emily said gently.

"How can I help you if I don't remember?" He asked almost angrily.

"We want you to listen to Ana as she runs through the string of events, it might trigger something." Emily answered, remaining level-headed.

Andrew sighed. "Fine."


End file.
